On the Good of Marriage.

 1. Forasmuch as each man is a part of the human race, and human nature is something social, and hath for a great and natural good, the power also of f

 2. Nor is it now necessary that we enquire, and put forth a definite opinion on that question, whence could exist the progeny of the first men, whom G

 3. This we now say, that, according to this condition of being born and dying, which we know, and in which we have been created, the marriage of male

 4. There is this further, that in that very debt which married persons pay one to another, even if they demand it with somewhat too great intemperance

 5. Also the question is wont to be asked, when a male and female, neither the one the husband, nor the other the wife, of any other, come together, no

 6. Further, in the very case of the more immoderate requirement of the due of the flesh, which the Apostle enjoins not on them by way of command, but

 7. But I marvel, if, as it is allowed to put away a wife who is an adulteress, so it be allowed, having put her away, to marry another. For holy Scrip

 8. “Honorable,” therefore, “is marriage in all, and the bed undefiled.” And this we do not so call a good, as that it is a good in comparison of forni

 9. Truly we must consider, that God gives us some goods, which are to be sought for their own sake, such as wisdom, health, friendship: but others, wh

 10. But I am aware of some that murmur: What, say they, if all men should abstain from all sexual intercourse, whence will the human race exist? Would

 11. And yet not to these themselves is marriage a sin which, if it were chosen in comparison of fornication, would be a less sin than fornication, an

 12. For, whereas that natural use, when it pass beyond the compact of marriage, that is, beyond the necessity of begetting, is pardonable in the case

 13. What therefore he says, “She, that is unmarried, thinketh of the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit ” we are not to

 14. And not without just cause a doubt is raised, whether he said this of all married women, or of such as so many are, as that nearly all may be thou

 15. For what Christian men of our time being free from the marriage bond, having power to contain from all sexual intercourse, seeing it to be now “a

 16. Therefore if haply, (which whether it can take place, I know not and rather think it cannot take place but yet, if haply), having taken unto him

 17. That marriage can take place of persons first ill joined, an honest decree following after, is manifest. But a marriage once for all entered upon

 18. For what food is unto the conservation of the man, this sexual intercourse is unto the conservation of the race: and both are not without carnal d

 19. Therefore as many women as there are now, unto whom it is said, “if they contain not, let them be married, ” are not to be compared to the holy wo

 20. And on this account, not, so as it was allowed one man to have even several wives, was it allowed one female to have several husbands, not even fo

 21. But since out of many souls there shall be hereafter one City of such as have one soul and one heart towards God which perfection of our unity sh

 22. If, therefore, even they who are united in marriage only for the purpose of begetting, for which purpose marriage was instituted, are not compared

 23. Nor, in that the Law orders a man to be purified even after intercourse with a wife, doth it show it to be sin: unless it be that which is allowed

 24. Marriage, I say, is a good, and may be, by sound reason, defended against all calumnies. But with the marriage of the holy fathers, I inquire not

 25. Forsooth continence is a virtue, not of the body, but of the soul. But the virtues of the soul are sometimes shown in work, sometimes lie hid in h

 26. But, in order that it may be more clearly understood, how there may be virtue in habit, although it be not in work, I speak of an example, about w

 27. Therefore at that time, when the Law also, following upon the days of the Patriarchs, pronounced accursed, whoso raised not up seed in Israel, eve

 28. Therefore, if we compare the things themselves, we may no way doubt that the chastity of continence is better than marriage chastity, whilst yet b

 29. And there is this further, that men are not rightly compared with men in regard of some one good. For it may come to pass, that one hath not what

 30. The right question plainly is, not whether a virgin every way disobedient is to be compared to an obedient married woman, but a less obedient to a

 31. From this obedience that Father, who was not without a wife, was prepared to be without an only son, and that slain by himself. For I shall not wi

 32. Therefore the good of marriage throughout all nations and all men stands in the occasion of begetting, and faith of chastity: but, so far as perta

 33. And, the case being thus, enough and more than enough answer has been made to the heretics, whether they be Manichees, or whosoever other that bri

 34. But those of ours who have wives we advise, with all our power, that they dare not to judge of those holy fathers after their own weakness, compar

 35. Boys also and virgins dedicating unto God actual chastity we do before all things admonish, that they be aware that they must guard their life mea

21. But since out of many souls there shall be hereafter one City of such as have one soul and one heart55    Acts iv. 32 towards God; which perfection of our unity shall be hereafter, after this sojourn in a strange land, wherein the thoughts of all shall neither be hidden one from another, nor shall be in any matter opposed one to another; on this account the Sacrament of marriage of our time hath been so reduced to one man and one wife, as that it is not lawful to ordain any as a steward of the Church, save the husband of one wife.56    1 Tim. iii. 2 And this they have understood more acutely who have been of opinion, that neither is he to be ordained,57    Tit. i. 6 who as a catechumen or as a heathen58    Thus Ambrose, Verellæ, and ancient Jerome, Ep. ad Ocean. and harshly against Ep. to Ch. of general custom, speaks strongly this interpretation, and says, b. i. near the end, that Ruffinus had found fault with him for this. Ben. had a second wife. For it is a matter of sacrament, not of sin. For in baptism all sins are put away. But he who said, “If thou shall have taken a wife, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin shall have been married, she sinneth not:”59    1 Cor. vii. 28, 36 and, “Let her do what she will, she sinneth not, if she be married,” hath made it plain enough that marriage is no sin. But on account of the sanctity of the Sacrament, as a female, although it be as a catechumen that she hath suffered violence, cannot after Baptism be consecrated among the virgins of God: so there was no absurdity in supposing of him who had exceeded the number of one wife, not that he had committed any sin, but that he had lost a certain prescript rule60    Normam of a sacrament necessary not unto desert of good life, but unto the seal of ecclesiastic ordination; and thus, as the many wives of the old Fathers signified our future Churches out of all nations made subject unto one husband, Christ: so our chief-priest,61    Antistes the husband of one wife, signifies unity out of all nations, made subject unto one husband, Christ: which shall then be perfected, when He shall have unveiled the hidden things of darkness,62    1 Cor. iv. 5 and shall have made manifest the thoughts of the heart, that then each may have praise from God. But now there are manifest, there are hidden, dissensions, even where charity is safe between those, who shall be hereafter one, and in one; which shall then certainly have no existence. As therefore the Sacrament of marriage with several of that time signified the multitude that should be hereafter made subject unto God in all nations of the earth, so the Sacrament of marriage with one of our times signifies the unity of us all made subject to God, which shall be hereafter in one Heavenly City. Therefore as to serve two or more, so to pass over from a living husband into marriage with another, was neither lawful then, nor is it lawful now, nor will it ever be lawful. Forsooth to apostatise from the One God, and to go into adulterous superstition of another, is ever an evil. Therefore not even for the sake of a more numerous family did our Saints do, what the Roman Cato is said to have done,63    Cato minor, cf. Plutarch. p. 771. to give up his wife, during his own life, to fill even another’s house with sons. Forsooth in the marriage of one woman the sanctity of the Sacrament is of more avail than the fruitfulness of the womb.

CAPUT XVIII.

21. Sacramentum nuptiarum nunc ad unum virum et ad unam uxorem redactum. Episcopum nisi unius uxoris virum ordinare non licet. Sed quoniam ex multis animis una civitas futura est habentium animam unam et cor unum in Deum (Act. IV, 32); quae unitatis nostrae perfectio post hanc peregrinationem futura est, ubi omnium cogitationes nec latebunt invicem, nec inter se in aliquo repugnabunt: propterea Sacramentum nuptiarum temporis nostri sic ad unum virum et unam uxorem redactum est, ut Ecclesiae dispensatorem non liceat ordinare, nisi unius uxoris virum (I Tim. III, 2, et Tit. I, 6). Quod acutius intellexerunt, qui nec eum qui catechumenus vel paganus habuerit alteram, ordinandum esse censuerunt . De Sacramento enim agitur, non de peccato. Nam in Baptismo peccata omnia dimittuntur. Sed qui dixit, Si acceperis uxorem, non peccasti; et si nupserit virgo, non peccat; et, Quod vult faciat, non peccat, si nubat (I Cor. VII, 28, 36): satis declaravit nuptias nullum esse peccatum. Propter Sacramenti autem sanctitatem, sicut femina etiamsi catechumena fuerit vitiata, non potest post Baptismum inter Dei virgines consecrari; ita non absurde visum est eum qui excessit uxorum numerum singularem, non peccatum aliquod commisisse, 0388 sed normam quamdam Sacramenti amisisse; non ad vitae bonae meritum, sed ad ordinationis ecclesiasticae signaculum necessariam. Ac per hoc sicut plures uxores antiquorum patrum significaverunt futuras nostras ex omnibus gentibus Ecclesias uni viro subditas Christo: ita noster antistes unius uxoris vir significat ex omnibus gentibus unitatem uni viro subditam Christo; quae tunc perficietur, cum revelaverit occulta tenebrarum, et manifestaverit cogitationes cordis, ut tunc laus sit unicuique a Deo (I Cor. IV, 5). Nunc autem sunt manifestae, sunt latentes dissensiones , etiam salva charitate, inter eos qui unum et in uno futuri sunt: quae tunc utique nullae erunt. Sicut ergo Sacramentum pluralium nuptiarum illius temporis significavit futuram multitudinem Deo subjectam in terrenis omnibus gentibus; sic Sacramentum nuptiarum singularum nostri temporis significat unitatem omnium nostrum subjectam Deo futuram in una coelesti civitate. Itaque sicut duobus pluribusve servire, sic a viro vivo in alterius transire connubium, nec tunc licuit, nec nunc licet, nec unquam licebit. Apostatare quippe ab uno Deo, et ire in alterius adulterinam superstitionem, semper est malum. Nec causa ergo numerosioris prolis fecerunt sancti nostri, quod Cato dicitur fecisse Romanus , ut traderet vivus uxorem etiam alterius domum filiis impleturam. In nostrarum quippe nuptiis plus valet sanctitas Sacramenti, quam fecunditas uteri.